#starwars

Discrimination is discrimination. Hate speech is hate speech. So, in a way, it’s a swipe at all of us when anyone is targeted by bigoted bullying.

Last week, 29-year-old Kelly Marie Tran, who played Rose Tico, deleted her all of her Instagram posts after months of hateful, racist and sexist bullying from Star Wars “fans.” Rose is the first non-white female lead in the history of the franchise.

Taking credit for the bulk of the attacks against the actress is a Facebook group called “Down With Disney’s Treatment of Franchises and Its Fanboys,” which has since made itself private [seriously, why hasn’t Facebook removed the hate group entirely?]. Check it out, and try not to gag:

Here’s more from the post you can’t see in the screen cap:

“Now go out there and fight for Legends restoration, go out there and reverse this forced diversity, go out there and show them what real Star Wars fans look like. Bring back the Straight White Male Hero that isn’t manufactured by a corrupt corporation like Disney.”

This group is also behind a campaign in February to give Black Panther a “Rotten” audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

On the positive side of things, since Tran deleted her photos last week, she’s gained over 50,000 new Insta followers. Celebrities have also shown an outpouring of support:

The best was from Stephen Colbert, who premiered a whole new Star Wars trailer dedicated to “broken hateful dweebs.” When addressing Tran’s racist cyber attackers, Colbert quipped, “It’s good to see Roseanne staying busy!” Zing.

Luke Skywalker himself Mark Hamill took a firm stand against the online bullies as well, posting a pic of him embracing Tran, with caption “What’s not to like? #GetALifeNerds”

Last Jedi helmer Rian Johnson dropped the word “manbabies.”

And on Tuesday, Tran’s co-star John Boyega posted this to Instagram.

This whole thing is just rotten to the core. These aren’t Star Wars fans; this is cyber-terrorism of the most cowardly kind. Star Wars is supposed to be all about bringing balance. Clearly, Star Wars has a fan problem.

“There’s a fluidity to Donald and Billy Dee’s (portrayal of Lando’s) sexuality,” he continued. “I mean, I would have loved to have gotten a more explicitly LGBT character into this movie. I think it’s time, certainly, for that, and I love the fluidity ― sort of the spectrum of sexuality - that Donald appeals to and that droids are a part of.”

While the writers may imply that Lando is sexually fluid, folks who have previewed the film say there’s nothing explicit to that point in the film.

In the more than 4 decades of Star Wars films, LGBTQ fans have yet to see actual representation in the sci-fi films. It seems that as vast as the universe may be, there are only heterosexuals out in space.

Some Star Wars fans were hoping for more from Laura Dern’s character in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo.

Last fall there was talk that an official tie-in novel, Leia: Princess of Alderaan released in September 2017, revealed Holdo to be the Star Wars universe’s first queer character.

In the book, Holdo mentions in a conversation about sex with Leia that she enjoys "a pair of pretty dark eyes.”

“A pair of pretty dark eyes.” Then Amilyn thought about that for a moment. “Or more than a pair, if you’re into Grans. Or Aqualish, or Talz. Or even —”

“That’s all right!” Leia said through laughter. “It’s just humanoid males for me.”

“Really? That feels so limiting.”

But, eventually LGBTQ Star Wars fans were disappointed again as there was nothing in The Last Jedi that shed any light on Holdo’s romantic life.

Hollywood has been doing this forever it seems.

Audiences were teased in the lead up to the release of last year’s Beauty and the Beast that there would be an "exclusively gay moment" for one of the film’s characters.

In the end, though, all LGBTQ audiences got were vague references to an unrequited crush on “Gaston” by “Le Fou,” and a fleeting, momentary shot of “Le Fou” dancing at the end of the film with a man.

So this news on Lando’s sexuality- we gotta stop with this queer baiting. Stop saying these characters are queer/fluid and not show it. This is lazy storytelling and doing the bare minimum. pic.twitter.com/qgXytbAD96

A fun, sexy fan twist on an infamous Star Wars moment just went viral thanks to a shout-out from Luke Skywalker himself. Last November, actors America Young and Dove Meir posed for a series of photos sending up Carrie Fisher’s “slave” outfit in Return of the Jedi. Meir’s original Instagram post read: “What if Han Solo was cast as a woman and Leia a man?”

The shoot recently caught fire on Twitter, and it blew up on May 8 when Mark Hamill posted this to his Twitter:

Even 35 years ago, the “slave Leia” costume was controversial for its depiction of female objectification. These days it’s laughable, and a little sad. One of very few elements of the original trilogy that hasn’t aged well (this was a family film for goodness’ sake!).

Fisher was outspoken in her disdain for the costume. She told Daisy Ridley, “Don’t be a slave like I was. … You keep fighting against that slave outfit,” in a conversation with Interview before she passed away in late 2016.

The new shoot, on the other hand, is an impressive, edgy and hugely enjoyable display of good sportsmanship. As an added bonus, Meir has a washboard stomach and legs for days. These photos will age a lot better than Princess Leia’s first chunk of screen time in Return of the Jedi.

The Advocate recently tracked down Young and Meir for a conversation about the shoot. Check it out, along with the rest of the photos, here: